Chapter Six: A day at the beach.

For someone with so much self-loathing, Bella sure has an aura about her. Boys can't get enough of her, and girls are jealous of all the attention she gets from the aforementioned boys. No wonder she can simultaneously think so little of herself, and think she's way better than those around her.

Bella and friends go to the beach, but not Edward -- he was busy hunting camping, no really, camping. During the trip to the beach, Bella constantly thinks about Edward, at least when she's not busy deftly dodging the advances of every boy in town.

While there, she meets Jacob, a boy from the local Quileute tribe who knew Bella when they were very young. Jacob drops a hint that the Cullens simply aren't allowed in this 'hood, which piques Bella's interest.

But first, a quick aside. Bella asks about Jacob's sisters, who are just over a year older than her -- making them 18 or 19. One of them is in college (Washington State, go Cougars!), while the other is already married and moved to Hawaii to live with a Samoan surfer. Those Quileutes move fast! I've been assured that Jacob's sisters are never mentioned again in the series. Stephenie Meyer and Tommy Wiseau should have a conversation sometime.

Anyway, Bella decides that she needs to flirt with the 15-year-old Jacob to try to get more information, hoping that his inexperience with girls will make him susceptible to her feminine wiles. Apparently, Bella doesn't have much experience with 15-year-old boys. At this point in the book, we know that she's a 17-year-old girl that every guy her age is falling head-over-heels for in an attempt to win her. She's afraid a 15-year-old might catch on that she's just playing with him and decide he doesn't want to talk to her anymore? Bella, he's 15, and you're an older woman: you could probably tell him he'll never so much as touch you and still get him to tell you every Quileute secret, along with his dad's PIN -- and make him do it while buying you dinner.

Surprise! Her daring plan works, and Jacob hints at the fact that it's possible that the Cullens might be vampires. Let's see if you can catch that in this passage, where Jacob drops a subtle nod toward vampirism:

"And what are they?" [Bella] finally asked. "What are the cold ones?"

[Jacob] smiled darkly.

"Blood drinkers," he replied in a chilling voice. "Your people call them vampires."

If you didn't catch that, don't worry; Bella didn't seem so sure about it either. She'll need a lot more than some extremely detailed legends and the testimony of one Edward Cullen that he's dangerous and abnormal in a way she'd never believe before she'll hop on this train.

Will to Continue: 97 (-1)
I wouldn't recommend reading this chapter late at night (I was ready to snooze), but Jacob managed to breathe a little life into the middle of the chapter after several pages of reading about seating arrangements, beach activities, and characters that certainly will have no impact whatsoever on the overall plot of this series. Bella was pouting for most of the chapter again, but at least Jacob made her pretend to be happy for a few pages.